Chinese Funeral Culture and Grief Etiquettes — History, Tradition, and Customs
What Is National Grief Etiquette In Chinese Funeral Culture?
How Did Ancient Chinese Perceive the Death?
General Rituals of A Traditional Chinese Funeral.
Attires and Paper Objects in Chinese Funeral Traditions.
Rich Burial Culture in Mausoleums of Ancient Emperors and Royals.
What to Wear to Chinese Funerals?
Celadon Barn of the Song Dynasty (960 — 1279) for Funeral Use — The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Photo by Dongmaiying)
What Is National Grief Etiquette In Chinese Funeral Culture?
No later than the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC — 256 BC), national grief etiquettes were held to mourn large-scale tragedies, including famine, plague, natural disasters, and significant failures in warfare.
Besides sacrificial and worship rites to pray for blessing, emperors and nobles sometimes would stay frugal and cut off entertainment activities to show their grief and condolences.
Meanwhile, the government would implement a series of policies to help people go through difficult times, including providing free food, free burial budgets, low-interest loans, recruiting poor people for national construction jobs, lowering taxes, loosening strict laws, canceling corvee, lowering the standards or cancel expansive celebration activities, and encourage marriage to guarantee population.
Wanli Emperor (1563 — 1620) and Officials Wearing Plain Clothes (Su Fu) and Walking to Temple of Heaven to Pray for Rain, on "Xu Xianqing Huanji Tu" Painted by By Artists Yu Ren and Wu Yue in 1588 — Palace Museum
How Did Ancient Chinese Perceive the Death?
The beliefs about death and funeral have been quite diverse in ancient Chinese history.
Confucianism believes that one's virtue and accomplishment are more important than lifespan. Still, a ritual funeral is crucial to show the deceased's achievement, social status, respect, and memories from devoted families and friends.
Taoism respects following nature, and Mohism encourages simple funerals.
Buddhism and Taoism Religion believe in spirits and reincarnation.
However, in ancient history, respect, fear of death, and strong beliefs in spirits and the afterlife have been the most common ideologies of most Chinese people.
Therefore, death was considered as important as birth.
This is the reason for ancient Chinese culture's rich burial and complicated funeral.
Silk Painting about Auspicious Animals and Deities Welcoming the Deceased's Spirit to Heaven, Unearthed from Mawangdui Tomb of Western Han Dynasty (202 BC — 8 AD) — Hunan Museum
General Rituals of A Traditional Chinese Funeral.
To Prepare for One's Departure
When a person is dying, close relatives would come and listen to their last words. In some regions, the dying person should be moved to a temporary bed in a specific location.
After the person passed away, close relatives would shower and change for them. Some places must also cover a white or yellow silk fabric on the dead's face.
During this period, no tears could be dropped on the body, and no leather clothes should be worn on the dead; it is believed that wearing a leather shroud could make the person turn into an animal in the next life.
Then, some ceremonies to attract spirits back to the body would be held, and the means differ based on region.
Jade Articles Used to Cover on the Dead's Face, from Tomb of A Noble of Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC — 771 BC) — Nanyang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute (Photo by Dongmaiying)
Informing Funeral Message and The Wake
Relatives of the deceased should inform other relatives and close friends about the sad news and burial date, either in person or with letters.
They also have to decorate the house for the coming wake and funeral, wear mourning clothes, and shouldn't come inside other people's homes.
The burial date and position are usually chosen through divination based on the deceased's birth date, social status, and Feng Shui culture.
This is also the wake period.
Funeral Use Furniture Models, Unearthed From Tomb of Prince Zhu Tan (1370 — 1390) of the Ming Dynasty — Shandong Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)
Condolence Ceremony
Usually, the condolence ceremony would be held on the 7th date of one's death.
In the past, the body of the deceased needed to, companied by family, stay at home or the funeral home for seven days before the burial. Now the home-staying period is much shorter in most Chinese families.
Inside the coffin, the dead's head would be towards the indoors and the feet towards the outdoor direction.
Other relatives and friends could come for condolence during this stay with gifts or money.
Condolence Ceremony for Xu Xianqing's Father, on "Xu Xianqing Huanji Tu" Painted by By Artists Yu Ren and Wu Yue in 1588 — Palace Museum